Portfolio

This course was designed to help the learner remember, understand, and apply Java coding conventions adopted by the company. It is based on a coding guidelines document I created while working for the Oregon Health Authority in 2006. The course, developed using Articulate Storyline 360, uses the Velocity template and features interactive elements like tabs and drag-and-drop graded questions. It uses variables and states to help the learner track their progress in completing the course.

One challenge I faced in designing this course was identifying what information from the source material needed to be presented in order to achieve the learning objectives. Because this course was created as a skill demonstration, I did not have stakeholders or SMEs to consult, so my decisions were based on the timeline–16 hours–and objectives–to showcase my proficiency with the tool–I had established for the project.

I faced two challenges while developing the course. The first was fitting in the snippets of code example. The original document I created using Microsoft Word, so I had more space to work with when it came to replicating the look of code lines. Real estate is much more precious in slides, so I had to modify some of the code lines for length and reduce the font size.

The second challenge involved a technical issue with my story file. The Velocity template, the only template I had access to in the trial version of Articulate Storyline, does not include a slide for Multiple Response graded questions. It was not difficult to apply the template style and copy elements from the Multiple Choice slide so that I achieved a cohesive look, but it ended up corrupting the story file. This is a known issue, according to my research, and I was able to resolve it by creating a new story and making my Multiple Response slide there, then inserting it into the Java coding conventions story.

These slides are part of a high school and college course I have taught on literary analysis using the novel The Kite Runner. Learners access media through embedded links and respond to writing prompts in designated areas on the slides. The slides are meant to be viewed in Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint and use the Slide Master feature to lock instructional content and create interactive areas where learners can type a response. View the presentation in Google Slides as a learner.

When Washington state closed public schools due to COVID, it became necessary for teachers to take existing curriculum and redesign it as elearning. I collaborated with my grade-level team to develop the Slide Masters (Theme in Google Slides). Each member of the team was then assigned 2-3 “Interactive Notebooks”, each covering a week’s worth of content from the course. The learning objectives and texts, both the main text and the companion excerpt, were adopted from the original instructor-led curriculum, but I redesigned and developed the learning activities and response prompts to fit the requirements of elearning.

The course was delivered through the Google Classroom learning management system, and was so successful in engaging learners that we have continued to use it at Yelm High School since we returned to standard instructor-led classrooms.